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MU
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01 Aug 2011, 11:47 pm

How many of you guys are currently in, or used to be in, the Boy Scouts of America?

I joined this organization in 2nd grade Cub Scouts. I thought the uniforms were cool looking and wanted to wear one myself, then I found out it was a whole lot more. In middle school you enter the actual boy scout troop if you want to. I soon realized that boy scouts are another place where one with an autistic disorder gets pushed around easily for acting in such a strange way. However, it got to the point where the older boys said, "this is stupid" and quit, and I became one of the only older boys. When this happened, the adults made me a patrol leader. There were only two patrols at the time. It was constantly me and another guy my age I knew in school, pitted against each other in meetings and camping trips. Having AS, I had no leader type personality, and I always lost, and had gained little respect from the younger boys. The adults constantly told me, "raise your voice at those guys if you want them to listen" and, "be more vocal you!" At the end of the year, the boys had to elect a new senior patrol leader, the guy who mostly ran the meetings. Once again it was me against the other guy, and the other guy won. Not that I actually wanted to be the SPL anyway. The winner was kind enough to make me his assistant SPL, but we were in high school now, and the other guy played every sport in his school, leaving him unable to attend many meetings. I officially switched places with him making me the unaccepted top dog.

Then came summer camps. A week long battle royale of troop against troop, who is stronger, and who has the better trash talk. No place for some wimpy guy with AS to be a leader. The summer camp I went to was especially militant, complete with all the yelling orders and marching before dinner. I overheard some guys talking, saying I led the worst troop around, and that the leader has problems. Now the Boy Scouts of America has a Scout Law consisting of twelve adjectives a young man should be, three being friendly, kind, and helpful. Was I the only one at camp upholding them?

So who has also taken part in this. Were you there a few days? Or, were you a high ranking official that everyone respected?



Acacia
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02 Aug 2011, 12:18 am

MU wrote:
How many of you guys are currently in, or used to be in, the Boy Scouts of America?

Ha, wow... I had totally forgotten about that chapter in my life.
Now you've got me in reminisce-mode... watch out :wink:

Yes, I used to be in Cub Scouts, at least. I stopped when it turned into Boy Scouts, which means that I never exactly dealt with all of the rank/leadership issues that you did. Cub Scouts was pretty benign by comparison. I mean, some of it was enjoyable... the pinewood derby racecars, for one. Obsessively building and perfecting those things was fun. Come to think of it, that is one of the few positive memories I have with my father. He and I would do those racer things every year. He was probably more obsessive than I was about it. :lol:

The character-education part about virtues and ethics and all that was lost on me. The Christianity was lost on me. I just liked to go camping and play in the woods and learn about Nature. Beyond that, I think it's just another venue for dogmatic indoctrination. Leave the religious BS out of it, and just make it a Nature/Adventure club. That'd be fine.

hmmm, sorry if I rambled/ranted there...


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Descartes
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02 Aug 2011, 12:39 am

No offense to anybody who is affiliated with the Boy Scouts, but I refuse to associate myself with them so long as they have their policy against homosexuals.


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johnsmcjohn
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02 Aug 2011, 12:47 am

Even as a very young child, I had no desire to socialize with others. My mom offered to try to get me in, but I chose not to.



SammichEater
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02 Aug 2011, 1:10 am

Acacia wrote:
MU wrote:
How many of you guys are currently in, or used to be in, the Boy Scouts of America?

Ha, wow... I had totally forgotten about that chapter in my life.
Now you've got me in reminisce-mode... watch out :wink:

Yes, I used to be in Cub Scouts, at least. I stopped when it turned into Boy Scouts, which means that I never exactly dealt with all of the rank/leadership issues that you did. Cub Scouts was pretty benign by comparison. I mean, some of it was enjoyable... the pinewood derby racecars, for one. Obsessively building and perfecting those things was fun. Come to think of it, that is one of the few positive memories I have with my father. He and I would do those racer things every year. He was probably more obsessive than I was about it. :lol:

The character-education part about virtues and ethics and all that was lost on me. The Christianity was lost on me. I just liked to go camping and play in the woods and learn about Nature. Beyond that, I think it's just another venue for dogmatic indoctrination. Leave the religious BS out of it, and just make it a Nature/Adventure club. That'd be fine.

hmmm, sorry if I rambled/ranted there...


I agree with you on that. I remember making a pinewood derby car; that was fun even though my car sucked.


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